$29.95
Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller; but even when he stays safely in his own study at home, he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to find out everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. Bill Bryson's challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us, like geology, chemistry and particle physics, and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science. It's not so much about what we know, as about how we know what we know. How do we know what is in the centre of the Earth, or what a black hole is, or where the continents were 600 million years ago? How did anyone ever figure these things out? On his travels through time and space, he encounters a splendid collection of astonishingly eccentric, competitive, obsessive and foolish scientists, like the painfully shy Henry Cavendish who worked out many conundrums like how much the Earth weighed, but never bothered to tell anybody about many of his findings. In the company of such extraordinary people, Bill Bryson takes us with him on the ultimate eye-opening journey, and reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.
$29.95
Astronomers have long known that the Universe is expanding, but everything they could see indicated that gravity should be slowing this spread. Instead, it appears that the Universe is accelerating its expansion and that something stronger than gravity --dark energy -- is at work. In Einstein's Telescope Evalyn Gates, a University of Chicago astrophysicist, transports us to the edge of contemporary science to explore the revolutionary tool that unlocks the secrets of these little-understood cosmic constituents. Based on Einstein's theory of general relativity, gravitational lensing, or "Einstein's Telescope," is enabling new discoveries that are taking us toward the next revolution in scientific thinking -- one that may change forever our notions of where the Universe came from and where it is going.$24.95
Now you can join Australia's best-known astronomer, Fred Watson, on a unique tour to unravel the mysteries of space and time. Take in primitive observatories in ancient Peru and the world's largest atom-smasher in modern-day Switzerland. See Pluto demoted from planetary status. Go behind headlines to find the truth about the Transit of Venus and the Higgs Boson. Meet some of science's most colourful characters.$24.95
A highly entertaining and informative introduction to our planet and the universe we live in. Have you ever wondered what dark matter is or why galaxies collide? Or why the Moon is gradually drifting away from Earth? Space is really, really big, as Douglas Adams once pointed out, and there is no better guide to it than Fred Watson, astronomer to the stars. Fred Watson has taken the many, many questions that have been asked by listeners of his popular, long-running radio shows, and answered them in Why Is Uranus Upside Down? * How can you identify the constellations? * Does the Earth wobble? * Could you dump nuclear waste into the Sun? * What makes planets round? * Where's the nearest black hole? * Are there other universes? * Can we ever know everything? This highly entertaining and informative introduction to our planet and the Universe we live in is a must-read for enquiring minds of all ages.